OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — When their ace struggled, the Atlanta Braves kept slugging — right back into first place after all these months chasing the Mets.
Matt Olson hit a three-run homer against his former club and the Braves won their sixth in a row, outswinging the Oakland Athletics 10-9 on Tuesday night and finally catching New York atop the NL East.
The reigning World Series champion Braves (85-51) pulled even with a slumping Mets team that had held sole possession of the division lead for 147 days since April 12 but has lost three straight.
“It’s where you want to be, you’d rather be here than somewhere else,” manager Brian Snitker said. “You want to be in the thick of the thing. I’ve always said, even when I was a third base coach, it’s like you love that time of the year when you wake up, get a cup of coffee and you can’t wait to get to the ballpark because you want to play the next game. That’s a good place to be.”
Major league wins leader Kyle Wright surrendered a career-high eight runs to the A’s. His team held tough, just as has been the case so many times in 2022.